Sniffles
by Doec
Summary: Janeway gets a cold, guess who comes to help!


Sniffles; by Doec  
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Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star Trek, I am but a humble fanficer. All bow before the mighty Paramount  
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Warning: watch out for the phonetic spelling! :-)  
  
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Captain Janeway lies in bed, listening to her alarm attempt to get her out of bed. After 20 minutes she summons her drained strength and drags herself out of bed and staggers shakily to her replicator for her morning coffee. As is goes down her throat she gags and coughs, it was like swallowing acid! Her throat was rough and raw, her coughing fit lasted close to a minute and her nose is running. She looks at herself in the mirror and groans. "Its the 24th century and we still don't have a cure for the cold". She gets dressed, tries to look like something other than death warmed over, and goes out to the Bridge  
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She takes her seat with a jumbo box of tissues in her lap. br"Morning--achoo!--Commander" she wheezes, wipes her nose. "Gesuntieht" Chakotay says "You don't look well, are you up to this? Maybe you should see the Doctor." He pats her back as she coughs. br"I'b fide, Cobba'der." Before she can say anything else, she sneezes again.br  
Lt. Paris swivels around in his seat. "Bless you, Captain. Sounds like quite a bug you've got there. I guess I'm lucky, I never get sick!"br  
Captain Janeway sits there, hating Tom Paris now.--Lucky bastard--she thinks to herself--Rubbing it in my face like that. Maybe I should give him a big kiss.--As she plots sharing her virus, she cracks a wicked smile, and is hit with another coughing and sneezing fit.  
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Miraculously, she makes it through her shift. She goes to the mess hall and leans on a wall. Chakotay finds her and pesters her some more with his goddamn advice. "Maybe I could get you some orange juice"br  
Janeway blows her nose "Huh? What? I to'de you, I'b fide! I'b dot sick, just a wittow unda da weather"br  
Chakotay hands her another tissue "Kathryn, go to bed, you're a mess. Get well, see you tomorrow."br  
Naturally she doesn't take well to being bossed around. "You caa'd welieve be of d-duty!" She stops, nearly sneezing her head off, then flops into a chair and clunks her head against the table. Chakotay drags his captain to her feet and whispers "Please, go to bed. I'll take care of everything, you're no help to anyone walking around like that." He takes her back to her quarters and finds some faceless Ensign. "Guard the door, if the Captain tries to leave, march her back into her quarters and make her stay in bed."br  
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Captain Janeway overhears these orders being given "Dab' you Chakotay!" she whispers, replicating herself another box of tissues and changes back into her silky pink nightgown. brShe climbs into bed and dozes off. Moments later she sees a shadow over her. A voice speaks br  
"Say 'ahh'" She sits up and screams "Ahh!" She sees its Q in an elaborately annoying 'Doctor Q' costume. While she's in mid-scream, he sticks a tongue-depressor in her mouth. br  
"K-oo, 'ut rr oo 'oing 'ere?!?!" Q takes no notice of her demands, shines a light down her throat br"Hmm, ihmmm/i, iHMMM!/i" brJaneway rolls her eyes " 'ut iz i', K-oo?" He takes the tongue-depressor out of her mouth and shrugs. br"I don't know, I just thought it would be funny!" Q kisses the top of her head, she tries to shoo him away. He's the last person she wants to see right now. "Wut do you wad', Q?"br  
He claps his hands over his chest "You wound me! I am on a mission of mercy. I came to nurse you back to health!"  
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She looks up at him dubiously. "uYou/u cabe uhere/u to durse ube/u back to health?!" br  
"Oh, Kathy, give me some credit here. We're pals and you know it. Face it, I like you and you like me right back, so nyah! Gimme a smile, Kathy, come on I know you have such a pretty smile" He pouts, trying to look cute. When that doesn't work he makes faces at her. Since this was the last thing she expected she lets her guard drop and laughs at his antics "That wasn't fair" she whines through sniffles. Q holds a tissue to her nose, "Blow."br  
"I caa'd bewieve I'b dooeen dis" she mutters, then blows her nose  
"That's a good girl, Kathy. Now all you have to do is rest while I take care of your every every need!"brbr  
Janeway flops back "God, I'b go'dda dieee!" she wails as Q tucks her in snugly and changes her sheets with the snap of his fingers.br He materializes a few extra large pillows to prop her up. "I'll be right back, don't go away!" he says as he vanishes.  
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A second later he reappears in a house on Earth. He pounces on a woman as she enters the room. "Are you Kathy's mom?" She stares at him in shock, so he tones it down a bit. "Are you, or are you not, the mother of Kathryn Janeway?"br  
The woman nods shakily "What about her? Is she all right? Is she dead?? Oh god!" brQ hushes her, makes her sit down "No, no, no, Kathy's fine...sort of"br  
"What did you do to my daughter?! I swear if you harmed one hair on her head..."br  
"I didn't do anything to her, she's a great kid, I'm a friend of hers. She's got a virus, I figured you'd know how to make her my Kathy again."br  
  
"Oh! iYou're/i the Q she told me about. Might as well get this over with" Mrs. Janeway observes. "So what are her symptoms, Q?"br  
  
"She's dripping all over the place, she talks funny, she's very weak and it sounds like she's got a porcupine down her throat."br  
  
She smiles and starts writing things down on a scrap of paper "I think she'll live. Just keep her in bed and make sure she drinks a lot of fluids. Try feeding her chicken soup, people have been doing that for millennia. When she was little I'd make her orange smoothies, that eases the sore throat." After handing the list to him she gets an idea. "Could I see her? Please?"br  
"I'd love to, but that would just complicate things and I've been in enough trouble with the continuum to risk much more. My son has been misbehaving so its best if I not draw any more attention to myself."br  
"I understand. Send her my love, will you?"br  
Q nods, "I will. She sends you hers." he snaps and returns to Captain Janeway's quarters.brbr  
  
"Wh-where'd you go?" Kathryn moans, unable to get out of bed from being tucked in so tightly by her well-meaning if misinformed "doctor".br  
"To see an expert on your illness. Your mother gave me some advice on how to cure you!" Q says brightly.br  
"What did you do to my mother?!" she demands, immediately shut up when Q shoves a straw into her mouth, force-feeding her a glass of icy orange liquid. "She said it'll make you feel better, so drink it already! Mommy knows best."br  
  
She looks surprised for a second, then figures its best to obey. Flash and she's wearing a bib with baby ducks on it and Q has also taken the liberty of changing her into flannel footie-pajamas. After she's done he starts spoon-feeding her from a giant bowl of soup "That's a good girl. You'll be back to your old self in no time. I'm so good at this!" brQ revels in his own 'greatness'. His patient isn't having such a great time br"Koo, I ab dot a baby, s'to-p tweating be wike one!" brTo which Q responds by nonchalantly putting another tissue to her nose and making her blow. br"Now go to sleep and if you're good I might let you out of bed when you wake up." He kisses her cheek, she sighs, kind of appreciating his efforts for the time being. "'night, Q. Thanks" she mumbles as she drops off.brbr  
After she's been sleeping for an hour or two, Chakotay comes by to check on his captain. He buzzes the door and Q answers, much to his surprise "Shhhhh! Kathy's sleeping!" he hisses at the visitor.brbr  
  
Chakotay looks annoyed "Q, what the hell are you doing to the Captain?" he demands, letting himself in and going to Kathryn's bed. He feels her forehead "Q, she's awfully warm, what have you been doing to her?"  
Q stands his ground "I've been taking care of her, which is more than I can say for some people who just send her off to bed and forget about her for the day."br  
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"Q, I did that because I know she's perfectly self-sufficient. She probably doesn't like being treated like an invalid. And get her into some lighter-weight nightwear, for heaven's sake!"br  
"Fine, have it your way. What do you care if she freezes to death." He snaps and she's back in her regular nightgown. Kathryn rolls over and whines, shivering. "See?" Q says smugly, then puts her back in the flannel ones, only these have a hood with bunny ears sticking out.  
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Even Chakotay can't keep a straight face at the sight of his commanding officer in pink bunny rabbit pajamas "She's going to kill you when she wakes up, you know."br  
"Ah, never fear! I have thought of everything. She can't get out of bed if she tries. Isn't she cute?!" Q kisses the top of her head.br  
"Well that's one way of keeping her in bed. I hate to say it, but thanks!" Chakotay admits.  
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Their conversation has gotten louder than Kathryn what can sleep through and she wakes up blearily. She looks up and sees them both staring down at her with 'Aww' expressions plastered over their smug faces. "What?" she asks, sitting up. She gets the feeling that something is different. She looks down and sees her pj's have grown mittens, covering her hands, feeling upwards she gets up to the fluffy pink bunny ears and is not amused. "Q.....!!!!" she growls.brbr  
  
Kathryn feels behind her, sure enough a big cotton tail is sewn on, too. "Q, you have five seconds to get me out of this before I get ireally/i mad! What are you doing here, Commander?!"br  
Not wanting to get court-martialed for visiting a friend, he scoots to the door. "Um, Kathryn, you sound a lot better, I think your cold's almost over. I'll...see you on the Bridge tomorrow, bye!" he says very fast as he leaves.brbr  
Kathryn can't help but have a 'good riddance' look on her face, then she goes back to struggling her way out of her ridiculous getup. "Q, I can't get out of this, there's no zipper!" She pauses a moment, then inhales deeply through her nose, surprised that she even can. "Q...I don't believe this."br  
He's meanwhile changed her back into something a little more dignified. They're still winter pj's but at least they're for adults. "I thought they made you look absolutely precious" Q tells her, flipping with her hair a little.brbr  
"Feeling better, Kathy?" he asks, sitting beside her. br  
"A little, it will probably relapse in no time but I'm fine now." br  
"Well, I see then that my work here is done. See you around the galaxy, Kathy"br  
"Q..." she starts, surprised she objects to his leaving. "You can...stay if you want. You know, in case it comes back."brbr  
  
Q sits back down next to her, cuddles her "Aww, poor Kathy. My poor baby Kathy. I'll stay till you're all better, I promise." He plants a kiss on her forehead. In spite of herself Kathryn gives a long, somewhat high-pitched sigh of content, then without thinking her brain switches gears to 'Very Honest'br  
She murmurs drowsily "Q...I don't know why I'm still kind of glad you're here, but I suppose its because....despite many things, you're one of my best friends...and I love you." She giggles shyly after this little confession "I can't believe I just told you that."brbr  
  
Q sits there, dumbfounded, this was the last thing he'd ever thought she'd say. He whispers into her hair "I love you too, Kathy" There's a long pause of silence, and neither of them move, but he stares at her face as though studying it and goes in for the kill. He kisses her on the lips, sharing his thoughts with her till she's completely overwhelmed, "Mm?? Mm!? Mmm-mmm...mmmm" Kathryn 'says', as she processes what's happening. When its over, she stares at him warily, whispers "Q? Oh god..." and leans forward, touching his forehead with hers, shaking. Q produces a robe and hugs it around her shoulders "Are you that cold?" he asks innocently. She shakes her head with an uncertain smile, "No, I'm that afraid"brbr  
  
"Afraid??" he repeats "Kathy, you're one of the only mortals in the history of all existence who has never been afraid of me."  
"I'm not afraid of you, I'm afraid of this" she explains and kisses him back, all of her past loneliness draining away into this moment of total completeness.  
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iuFIN/i/u 


End file.
